Norway: union, employers reach wage deal, strike avoided

A wages deal between the trade union for personnel working in the Norwegian energy sector, SAFE, and the employers, has been reached in the early hours on Friday, avoiding a strike of some 338 workers. 

According to a statement by SAFE, a wages deal has been reached at 03:00 on Friday morning, three hours after the deadline for mediation expired at midnight.

SAFE leader Hilde-Marit Rysst said that despite the wages deal, a commission will be set up to examine how the wage formation will be developed in the future to provide security for all the signatories of the agreement.

Earlier in the week the union said that the strike by a total of 338 workers at three facilities could halt gas supplies to the United Kingdom and hamper gas supply to Statoil’s Hammerfest LNG facility.

Statoil’s Hammerfest LNG facility has the capacity to produce 4.3 million tons per annum using gas from the Snøhvit field.

Shell’s Nyhamna onshore plant processes gas from the deep-water Ormen Lange field off Norway’s coast and meets about 20 percent of the UK’s gas needs.

The third facility that could have been affected by the strike was ExxonMobil’s refinery in Slagen.

LNG World News Staff